What Mikhail Bakunin thinks about religion

@mikhail-bakunin · 17 positions · On ppll ↗

Russian revolutionary anarchist (1814 to 1876); author of God and the State.

Mikhail Bakunin did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

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Only Mikhail Bakunin on religion. See everyone on religion

5 dated positions, c. 1870–1876, in their own words. Our reading of what Mikhail Bakunin has said — not written or endorsed by them.

1. c. 1870–1876

   Our readingReligious longing is a protest against a wretched life, and only social revolution can cure it

   Their wordsThey are the instinctive and passionate protest of the human being against the narrowness, the platitudes, the sorrows, and the shame of a wretched existence. For this malady, I have already said, there is but one remedy—Social Revolution.

   ↗God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book

3. c. 1870–1876

   Our readingThe idea of God means giving up human reason and justice and leads to enslavement

   Their wordsWith all due respect, then, to the metaphysicians and religious idealists, philosophers, politicians, or poets: The idea of God implies the abdication of human reason and justice; it is the most decisive negation of human liberty, and necessarily ends in the enslavement of mankind, both in theory and practice.

   ↗God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book

5. c. 1870–1876

   Our readingThe despotism of doctrinaires and inspired religious believers is the worst of all

   Their wordsOf all despotisms that of the doctrinaires or inspired religionists is the worst.

   ↗God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book

7. c. 1870–1876

   Our readingReligion is a collective insanity made more powerful by tradition and antiquity

   Their wordsWell, religion is a collective insanity, the more powerful because it is traditional folly, and because its origin is lost in the most remote antiquity.

   ↗God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book

9. c. 1870–1876

   Our readingNo state can exist without religion

   Their wordsThere is not, there cannot be, a State without religion.

   ↗God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book